September 2015 – 300 words a day

The wisdom of listening and doing.

My legs hurt. It’s a natural reaction to the workout they received. They will recover. They would recover more quickly if I were to follow the counsel of my running medical friend. “Ice is your friend,” he says. “Compression will help,” he says. And everyone who knows running and muscle soreness agrees. I even agree. […]

by Jon Swanson

Such a great cloud of witnesses.

Preparing to run my first half-marathon, I got a lot of encouragement. People sent me texts. They (you) “liked” my Facebook status. They came to the race. I could have interpreted the support as pressure that I must do well, increasing my fear of failure. But my friends aren’t like that. They know I’ve not […]

by Jon Swanson

Every Monday

First published October 8, 2012 It happens every Monday morning. Every Monday is a restart of our pilgrimage. Every Monday we say, “I want this week to be different. I want to be more committed, more caring, more thoughtful, more loving, more focused, more significant, more successful.” And then we open our eyes. And shuffle […]

by Jon Swanson

what if you walked away for awhile.

I’m reading a book called If: Trading Your If Only Regrets for God’s What If Possibilities. It’s by Mark Batterson. I got it free as part of a promotional team. I’m reading it more deliberately than a good promoter should. At the end of each chapter, there is a “what if.” In Chapter 5, Mark […]

by Jon Swanson

Only twelve stories.

When it comes to talking about God stuff, I’m a lot like your Uncle Frankie. He’s the one who knew approximately twelve stories. For the first three or four times you heard them, they were funny or poignant or both. After that, you started to get a little bored. When you took your best friend […]